Tobyhanna Township minor-corruption case heading to county court

A man will head to Monroe County Court on charges of smoking marijuana with several Tobyhanna Township minors and planning to have sex with one of them, a 13-year-old girl, in May.

Charged in two separate cases, Brian D. Orlowski, 43, identified with Berwick and Moosic addresses, waived his right to a preliminary hearing Thursday before Pocono Pines District Judge Richard Claypool. Orlowski as of Thursday was in Monroe County Correctional Facility in lieu of $150,000 in one case and $100,000 in the other.

Orlowski requested his bail in both cases be reduced to more affordable amounts he could post in order to get out of jail.

Claypool denied the request, viewing him as a flight risk since Orlowski has a long criminal history. Having served state prison time in drug and reckless-endangerment cases, Orlowski was out on bail on a Lackawanna County drug case when committing the offenses in this case, police said.

“I was set up,” Orlowski told reporters while being taken back to county jail after Thursday's district court appearance.

When asked by whom he was set up, he said, “No idea.”

Orlowski will appear at a future date in county court, where he can go to trial, plead guilty or plead no contest.